The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

Giving contests have been a trend in philanthropy for years now, so much so that a kind of fatigue has settled over the idea of nonprofits competing for prizes - aka, large donations. The nonprofits must activate their followers within the guidelines of the effort, often in conjunction with a company that sees the added value of marketing stapled to its philanthropy. It takes time, and serious commitment. And sometimes the "engagement" comes in the form of the lowest common digital denominator - a "vote" in the form of a click or two. Not for nothing did Networked Nonprofit co-author Beth Kanter ask in 2010: "Should We Just Blow Up Nonprofit "Vote for Me" Social Good Contests?"

Yet contests hold the promise to draw new people to philanthropy, and offer the possibility of opening new channels to donors, volunteers, and general supporters. American philanthropy, as a function of GDP the largest in the world, has remained remarkably constant (some would say stagnant) for the last four decades. And with a million-plus registered nonprofits in the U.S. alone competing for dollars, giving contests can be tempting for small and mid-sized organization form whom increased attention matters as much as the actual dollars raised. Further, contests that promote real engagement can help causes over the long term.

A new report from the Case Foundation created in partnership with Razoo, a giving and organizing platform, suggests that one form of contest - community-based giving days - can help to broaden general support for a region's nonprofits and give the smaller causes a chance to find new donors while building engagement. The giving days work distill a city's charitable instincts into a philanthropic fury, calling attention to both the causes involved and citizen involvement and support. The Case report looks at results from Give to the Max Day DC (which took place last fall) and similar efforts in Minnesota, Seattle, north Texas, Colorado, San Diego and Pittsburgh. The foundation, created by America Online founder Steve Case and his wife Jean, has long experience in media-driven giving efforts, having launched America's Giving Challenge in 2007.

The DC giving day was both instructive and successful: in its inaugural year, Give to the Max Day raised $2 million (including prize money) for 1,200 nonprofits from 18,000 donors. Further, the effort brought in new donors - 58 percent of participating nonprofits reported new donors. Some, like award winner Kristin Brooks Hope Center, said most of their donors were new. So what's the difference-maker for organizations who can successfully compete in giving days? Not surprisingly, it's a facility with social media and building networks.

"Our research found that half of the donations made during Give to the Max Day DC took place after hearing about the giving contest via word-of-mouth and social media, proving once again the importance of leveraging social technologies as part of an overall fundraising strategy," Jean Case, CEO of the foundation, told Forbes.

Yet it was just as clear that many nonprofits still don't invest as much effort in building online networks - which is interesting when you consider that 75% percent of participating donors said that Give to the Max Day was their first time using a social online fundraising platform, and that a 2011 Blackbaud study showed more than $1 billion in online giving driven by social media.

"Surprisingly, we're still seeing quite a divide between nonprofits who are familiar with social fundraising and those who are not," said Case. "We hope that this report will demonstrate that investing even a small amount of time and dollars into social media, and taking advantage of available training opportunities, can provide a significant return to nonprofit organizations."

What was also interesting was the hybrid nature of the Washington contest: organizers added training and capacity-building to the menu for participating nonprofits, and encouraged giving and network-building even for the organizations not realistically vying for the top prizes. Of course, it was still about giving money and creating the mechanism to do so, and the Case study reported that 96% of donors said the event made them more likely to give and give more. And the giving days can also bring organizations and people together in new ways.